Keyhole guard



May 29, 1923.

H. BROWN KEYHOLE GUARD Filed Sept. l5. 1921 @Horn-eq Patented May 29,` 1923.

HARVEY BROWN, orfBUrrALo, NEWNORK, Assielvou or ONE-HALF fr oAIQoYsIUsH.

y l soHAnrEaor BUFFALO, NEW YORK. s i f KEYHQLE GUARD.'

Appncation'ied september i5, 1921. serial No. oo'lvse." I

To alwhomz't may concern:

' Be" it. 'known' that I, HARVEY BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing atBuffalo, in the county of v.Erie and State of New York, have invented certain `new and useful Improvements in 'Keyhole Guards, of which the yfollowing is a speeifieation.

My invention relates to "improvements in key-hole guards,

door, and which. can be retained'in' therecfA tangular lower portion of a key hole even though the key is held in the keyLho-le in a manner to permit the; locking or unlocking of thedoor. f

A still further object is the provision lof an' improved key-hole guard which will prevent the. turning of a-key into a position to permit removal of the key' from eitherside ofthe door. i Y

Vith the above and other objects in view to appear hereinafter, my1 invention consists in a device adapted to be inserted into a keyhole of a vdoor after the insertion of a key f therein, with a view of preventing lthe removal of the key therefrom, thereby guarding against the s urreptitious entrance of burglars or others into a room thro-ugh thev use of a duplicate or skeleton key, or the use of look-picking tools. f

In its more limited sense, the invention consists in the novel features of construction and in the arrangement and combination of the integral parts thereof to behereinafterdescribed and more particularly pointed outv in certain of the appended claims.

`In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of aportion'of a door and the adjacent portion of the door casing, showing my improved key-hole guard inserted into the key-hole of the door.-

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the door and a portion ofthe door-easing, taken and ithasfor its primary 10 object theprovision of an improved devlce therein which forms-part 'of a .-ke y hol in a plane passingthroughtheikeyhole, thel ivithin' the5" lock c asing'A locking mechanism being omitted.v

Iilig.` 3 is-aseeti'on taken on line"3v VHaving reference to ythedrayving's-'jinY de-; V

t-a.il, the numeral 5 designates 'a{ loor,` tithe outer escutcheon, and v7 the'=in` ne r esc'utcheonf ,651@ e The escutcheonsl are applied in janyjsuitable manner to the outer and 'inner 'facesof the i door and i each has a ykey-'holeopening '8 that extends through thedoor proper'andw :l

through the lock mortise'd'intothe door, and l i Itis, v0f' course',v to be understoodthatiny device is l*adapted "for yuse `inr vany kind of `key-hole, a's a lock applied tofoneside w 'elle doork is O .ften used, instead'fof a. mortiseqock; i. Therefore, Where hereinafter the termc-key5-- hole is'emplo-yed, it maymean any vhole or" 4 opening in a 'door' into 'which' key, iste be inserted,-'regardless `of the location =or" cons'tructionof the looking-mechanism.

Vllliena lock is applied to one'side of a door, it isapplied to the inner," or that side 1 applied tothe outerside only. f i The door 5 closes against a door protect-. and insuch' cases,'an 'escutcheonfis stop -on o-r securedl to the vdoor jamb '12 to'ivlicli f 909,6 f'

a locking plate 13 is secured which has an opening into which the lock-bolt of the llook-. ing-mechanism i( not shown) s adapted to'be 'projected when locking the` door.y

My improved key-hole guard consideredl j l as a Whole isvdesignated bythe numeral-14;,.95 Y i and it is constructed of a flat strip of springy' material bent midlengt-h upon itself, as at 15,

to form two arms 16, 17, which bear-against Y gether, lor at least of being moved 'toWardeach other. The inner portion' of the device,-I f

Which may bereferred to asV the guard por# tion, is comparatively `rigid or non-yield- .f

ing While the outer port-ion formed'by .thef

separated parts of the arms 16, 17 are Hexr` ib-le, and may bey referred pto as thelock" portion. 1

iisvv The arms 16, 17, have stop prongs 20, 21, preferably formed `by stamping a. U-shaped incision in each arm and bending the metal bounded by the incision outwardly. The prong of one arm is preferably out of line with that of the other, so that when inserting the guard into a keyhole, the prong 2O will be positioned at the inner side of the inner escutcheon and the prong 21 at the outeriside thereof, both at marginal port-ions of the key-holeas clearly shown in Fig. 2. VJhen inserting the guard into the key-hole, it is ofcourse necessary to press the spaced outer portions 1 9 of the two arms together, or at leasttoward each other, so thatthe stop prong 20, which isl adapted to be positioned at the inner' side ofthe escutcheon, will clear the wall of the key-hole opening 8 in the latter, and when positioned in a plane passing in rear of the esoutcheon. the flexible outery portions of the arms may be allowed to spread, whereupon the stop prong 2() will move into a position behind the escutoheon while thestop prong 21 will move in front,

of said escutcheon. Y

Any efforts made on the part of a burglar or other person to surreptitiously withdraw the guard from the key-hole will be frustrated, since the stop prong 20 will prevent inward movement of the guard while the prongQl prevents outward movement 4thereof. Onaccount of the oblong cross-section of the guard and by Ireason of the fact that the flexible outer portions of thearms 16, 17, areheld against the walls of the lower rectangular vportion of the key-hole opening 8 in the escutoheon, V.the guard cannot be turned. It is, therefore, impossible to remove the guardv from the outer side of the door, and it is consequently impossible to open the door from the outside by means ol' a. duplicate or skeleton key or any other tool. 1

'In cases where a lock lis fastened to the innerside ofa door, myimproved guard is inserted directly into and through the look, with the lock prong 20 positioned against the inner side of the outer wall of the lock and the lock prong 21A against the outerv side of said wall. That portion of the guard extending through the lock being entered in that portion of the key-hole formed in the door to the extent necessary yto properly position said loclr prongs as stated.

From the foregoing yit will be clear that the guard may be retained inthe key-hole oli' the door even though the key is inserted therein; also that the key may be turned either to loclror unlock the door. Thezliey cannot, however, be ywithdrawn from, `the key-hole until the guard` has been removed, which is readily done by pressing the outer portions 19 of the guard together, or at least toward each other, and then guard bodily from the key-hole.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is I- i l 1. A guard for key-holes having escutcheons, comprising a guard portion and in'- tegral springy arms at oneend of said guard portion having vouter free ends and lock prongs extending laterally therefrom in dit,-y

ferent planes, said prongs being adapted to engageopposite sides of an escutcheon at marginal portions of its ykey-hole. y i

2. A guard for key-holes formed of a flexible strip of metal bent medially upon itself to form two arms lying in Contact with each othera portion, of their lengths and being spaced apart along the remainder of their lengths to iorm 'free-ended spring lock por-4 tions,` each springloclr portion having a lool; prong stamped laterally therefrom andsaid lock prongsbeingr atfdilerent points along the length of said guard. i

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature pulling the .t `65 HARVEY Brown.

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